2G gaabxx after team’s Airbnb was robbed: "I didn't even have shoes to wear on stage. I had to borrow shoes from the casters"

Gabriel "gaabxx" Carli finally had the opportunity to lead 2Game Esports onto the VCT Americas stage. The team’s journey to Los Angeles was already marked by adversity, including visa issues involving Eduardo "xenom" Soeiro and the Head Coach having to step into the server during the LCQ final. However, the team faced another unexpected setback just hours before its elimination match against Sentinels, when the Airbnb where players and staff were staying was broken into and several belongings were stolen.

Under far-from-ideal circumstances, 2G fell 0-2 to SEN, bringing their Stage 2 run to an end. In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports on Thursday, August 20th, gaabxx discussed how the incident affected the team psychologically, reflected on his first year as a coach, compared the Tier 1 and Tier 2 environments, and explained why resilience was the biggest lesson he will take from 2Game’s VCT Americas campaign.

Gabriel "gaabxx" Carli: “Honestly, I already had the experience of participating in Tier 1 in 2021 and 2022, so I already knew how these guys played. The difference here is a lot about reaction. And I think what happened yesterday at our Airbnb affected us in today's game. We can't control these things, but our mentality was affected a little bit.

gaabxx: I'm from a place in Brazil, a neighborhood in the city of Sorocaba that isn't very good, you know? I never imagined, man, that I would get robbed in Los Angeles. It's unbelievable what happened. We left, came back, and literally there was nothing left. Today, I didn't even have shoes to wear on stage. I had to borrow shoes from the casters here so I could wear them. They're much bigger than my size. I'm walking like a duck. And some people react to things one way, others react differently. I felt that the team was really affected by it. Five players were affected by the robbery. People literally had everything taken from them. At 10 P.M., this happens, and the next day at 10 A.M. you have to be here to play. There's no way it doesn't affect you. Our mentality took a big hit because of that.

gaabxx: What happened in Mexico contributed positively because that was fuel for us to win. The anger, the frustration of wanting to postpone it and not being able to, and having to play the game that way. Here, it was more negative. It was something outside the game, and when something outside the game affects a player's performance, you suffer a little more. So one was somewhat positive for us, and the other was very negative. What happened yesterday was really difficult.

gaabxx: It was good. It started very badly because I started as the coach of 9z, a project that I thought would move forward, but it didn't work. It was literally a total failure. And I knew my potential, and when you become a coach, you kind of do almost the same things, you just don't play. So I thought, "Man, this can't be it". Then, when 2Game came with a very good offer for me, I saw the players names and thought, "Man, this is what I need”. The guys listened to me a lot. They let me guide things quite a bit, and it ended up producing very good results. We finished second in the second split, lost to La Masia, and then became champions in Mexico with me playing while also coaching during the game. I was also like the IGL, and then we managed to reach VCT Americas, although the mental side was affected a lot. I think that was also an important factor, but my overall year was good. It had ups and downs, but it ended on a high. It was a very good experience being a coach. I liked it, honestly.

gaabxx: What I'll take most from this experience is reaction. Inside the game, I'm talking more about reaction. it's something that's very important. What I felt made the biggest difference for us was that they're always practicing against Tier 1 teams, while in Brazil sometimes we weren't. Always practicing against Tier 2 makes it a little more difficult to improve. Now, with everyone going back to Brazil and everyone doing the same thing, it's going to be really good because everyone will improve together through practice. It won't be one region or another, it will literally be region against region. That's a very important point. And literally, what I learned here is reaction.

gaabxx: Discipline is very important. That's one point. Here, things happen earlier and there's more structure, that's also an important point. Investment, man. Investment is also something that, when you play a game without investment, which is what happened in Brazil this year with certain teams, you don't have total dedication because you have to do other things to survive. Here, you literally just play. It's much easier. You have a psychologist, a therapist, you have everything here. Literally. The investment they have here compared to what we have there is a huge difference. That's what makes a total difference.

gaabxx: Resilience. Man, definitely resilience. Because of everything we've been through so far. The thing happened yesterday; they took my watches, all my shoes, my perfumes, everything. I have nothing to take back to Brazil. If I didn't have a good mindset, I would have lost myself. I'm far from my family, I'm far from my parents, my mother, my wife. I'm far away from everyone. In Mexico, we were resilient. Here, even though we lost, we were resilient too. We came here and played. We had all the support as well, but that's a very important point because it might seem like a small thing. Man, there were people here who lost a lot. That's something they've built over a lifetime, with a lot of dedication and hard work. To lose it like that in 20 minutes. So what I really take from this is resilience. Definitely. This is the most resilient team I've ever had, and I'm going to take resilience home as a lesson."